Shortlisted for the UK's prestigious Orange Prize Publisher's Weekly, San Francisco ChronicleBook of the Year

“Holman has put on seven-league boots to tread a wittily intricate dance step. . . .[The Mammoth Cheese] possesses, page by page, or bite by bite if you prefer, an intense, refined and lingering flavor. . . . [It] lofts global literary thoughts upon agile local activity. . . . I like and admire her novel a lot.” —Richard Eder, The New York Times

“Holman has fashioned a tale that is poignant and powerful and, like an award-winning cheese, surprisingly complex.” —Chris Bohjalian,The Washington Post Book World

“Stunning. . . . A Great American Novel par excellence. . . . The Mammoth Cheese is as smooth, and often as surprising, as dreaming.” —Bethany Schneider, Newsday

“[An] enjoyable slice of Americana . . . A panoramic social novel with a needle-sharp point of view sends up both small-town America and politics.” —Bella Stander, People

“An intriguing and gratifying read, a mélange of characters and situations rooted in contexts both historical and contemporary, conflicts both personal and political. Though humor resonates throughout the novel, the emotions it contains and evokes are quite real—often poignantly so.” —Jessica Treadway, The Boston Globe

“Holman’s latest novel. . . is written with charm, intelligence, and a lot of nerve. . . . [The plot] sounds bizarre, but Holman is so sure-footed in establishing her characters and subplots. . . that we fall for it in the early pages and never look back. As did Holman’s other books, it shows what can happen when imagination and audacity collide.” —Anne Stephenson, Arizona Republic

“The writing is excellent and the characters are real. It is the type of book that you wish would not end because you care so much for the characters.” —Ken Jablecki, The Chicago Tribune

“Holman’s novel is brilliant, the characters deeply rendered, the philosophic underpinning astute, the touch sure. . . . Holman is one of those novelists whose world you trust completely. She’s as adept as Barbara Kingsolver at tracing the political and intellectual life of small rural communities.” —Barbara Sjoholm, The Seattle Times

“Lovely, disarming . . . Tough, sad and surprisingly sweet.” —Jennifer Reese, The New York Times Book Review

“Holman has written a robust, witty novel that captures the comedy and tragedy of the struggle for independence.” —Ron Charles, Christian Science Monitor

“Sophisticated. . . Believability is one of the things that make [The Mammoth Cheese] such a wonderful book. . . I heartily recommend it.” —Sharon Barrett, The Chicago Sun-Times

“Ambitious . . . Holman’s ability to constantly create sharply turned phrases, and the honestly earned humor that she instills in the story, helps balance the tragic elements and make this a memorable pastoral fable.” —David Hellman, The San Francisco Chronicle

“[The Mammoth Cheese is] a big-hearted story that incorporates the plight of the small farmer with the caprice of modern politics in an utterly pleasing way. . . Holman has an indulgent storytelling voice. She can set up a scene better than anyone. . . Holman does such a satisfying job at weaving American history into her modern tale that readers owe it to themselves to take a nibble.”—Karen Sandstrom, The Cleveland Plain-Dealer

“An outstanding job . . . Holman weaves the stories together so well that it takes only a few chapters for the reader to feel like a native of Three Chimneys. After that, The Mammoth Cheese moves quickly and effortlessly towards its surprising and memorable climax. . .The Mammoth Cheese is about politics, history, religion, love, money, excess and independence—in short, it’s about all things American.” —Jay Pawlowski, The Rocky Mountain News

“It takes a truly imaginative writer to weave a captivating story that ties together a 1,235-pound wheel of cheese . . . and a mother who has just given birth to 11 infants. But Ms. Holman proves she’s up to the challenge with this deft pastoral that offers a dead-on depiction of life in a small town.” —Rebecca Stumpf, The Dallas Morning News

“The denouement of Holman’s sharp American satire could easily be a scene cut out of a Robert Altman movie. . . . Holman’s intricately crafted look at family, religion and class in the rural South seamlessly blends the quotidian and the surreal.” —Barbara Aria,Time Out New York

“Inventive [and] entertaining.” —Alec MacGillis, The Baltimore Sun

“Holman’s splendid title denotes a loopy homage to the historical past. . . . This is one of the richest American novels in years. Its abundance of character, plot and promising visuals make a feature film version all but inevitable.” —Bruce Allen, Hollywood Reporter

“A story about modern culture and the punch it packs in all corners of America. Whether it’s the excesses of politics, industrialization or relationships, Holman takes readers on a witty and satirical trip through Three Chimneys, Va.” —Amanda Davis, St. Louis Post-Dispatch

“The Mammoth Cheese is a brave book, daring to compare the good product of the title with the curdled failure of humanity to render our own backstory without malice.” —Neena Husid, The Austin American Statesman

“Holman’s strength as a novelist is like that of her character August Vaughn: an ability to invest a vigorous sense of life into historical fictions. . . . In The Mammoth Cheese, Holman expands the role history plays, creating a rich fabric of ideas—particularly Jefferson’s that inform her character’s actions.” —Scott Hermanson, The San Diego Union Tribune

“[The Mammoth Cheese] is written with charm, intelligence and a lot of nerve. . . Shows what can happen when imagination and audacity collide.” --The Arizona Republic

“Holman takes the outlandish . . . and narrows it down, without oversimplification, to what matters most to a book’s readers—its people.” —Jeff Lodge, The Richmond Times-Dispatch

“A detailed and vivid storyteller. . . Holman proves her literary talent many times in TheMammoth Cheese. Her plotting is excellent with believable, yet unpredictable, twists. Though there are. . .plenty of them, her characters breathe with real life. . . The Mammoth Cheese is a serious work of literary fiction: a wonderful tale of people fighting for independence from the lives that tie them down.” —Amy Joyner, Greensboro News & Record

“An ambitious creation from an inventive mind. One of Holman’s gifts is the ability to bring to life the small details and social underpinnings of human behavior so realistically that it seems almost effortless. . . . Her story and characters are well-developed, and her narrative descriptions are powerful.” —Amy Rogers, Creative Loafing

“Holman made her debut with the grisly, remarkable The Dress Lodger. She is even more remarkable here. Her story is deep and compelling, populated by characters moving and thought-provoking, and her images are precise and surprising. . . . Wonderful.” —Susan Hall-Balduf, The Detroit Free Press

“[Holman] catches the flavor of small-town America in this story of the rural South. . . . There are many pleasures in this book: its vivid characters, delineations of cheese and cheesemaking, and its evocation of the South.” —Lois D. Atwood, The Providence Journal

“Engaging. . . The novel’s farcical elements are deftly integrated, as are its many stories, by Holman’s limber prose as she movingly captures life in a small American town where even its young are struggling with the wounds of time.” —Sherryl Connelly, New York Daily News

“A deft account of the contradictions of small-town life.”--Time Out New York

“Holman’s well-written words of cheese and love are a balm for those seeking a solid story with fully developed, endearing characters and a fitting and satisfactory ending.” —Anita J. Firebaugh, The Roanoke Times

“Time and setting determine character and plot in Holman’s novels in a way that’s reminiscent of the best Dickens novels of the 19thcentury, and the best John Irving novels in ours.” —Nan Goldberg,The Newark Star-Ledger

“Wonderful. . . [Holman’s] story is deep and compelling, populated by characters moving and thought-provoking, and her images are precise and surprising. . . Any way you slice it, Holman is on her way to greatness.” —Susan Hall-Balduf, The St. Paul Pioneer Press

“Pure Americana. . . . Holman’s characters have Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde sides as well Robert Louis Stevenson and baby Jekyl sides. In other words, they are not only well-meaning and inadvertently destructive, they are also, at times, intellectually distant and irrepressibly dreamy.” —Rob Neufeld, Citizen-Times

“Written with charm, intelligence and a lot of nerve. . . . Holman is sure-footed in establishing characters and sub-plots. As in A Stolen Tongue and The Dress Lodger, Holman shows what can happen when imagination and audacity collide.” --Rochester Democrat and Chronicle

“The Mammoth Cheese is a modern story steeped in history.” —Amanda Haskins, Newport News Press

“An ambitious and intriguing novel that deals with personal and political conflicts.” --The Chattanooga Times Free Press

“Although entertaining and multifaceted, plot is not the principal attraction of this engrossing book. Instead, it’s Holman’s extraordinary descriptions of places and processes and, particularly, her rich cast of beautifully realized characters. . . Too well written and too much fun to miss.” —Margaret Black, Metroland

“[A] funny and tender look at American life, literature and politics. . . . An instructive and endearing tale of love gone awry. . . . For a good-natured poke at small-town life and national politics, a recommended read is The Mammoth Cheese.” —Susan Larson, Flint Journal

“Holman manages to wholly engross the reader with the affairs and thoughts of the unfortunate parents of 11. . . . This book was written to be a best seller on someone’s list. It could easily succeed. . . . This novel is about community. The big cheese is us.” —Roy Durfee, New Mexican

“[The Mammoth Cheese] dazzles with its combination of history, religion, political satire and tragedy. Every character here is a delicately nuanced, vivid creation. . . . Holman weaves a deft consideration of American history and political ideals into an exuberantly eccentric tale of smalltown life."--Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“An engaging work of fiction that explores big ideas with an off-kilter freshness and a genuine knowledge of human experience. . . Holman is treading in Barbara Kingsolver country here, and she expertly navigates the terrain with similar unfussy prose and wry perception. . . Sheri Holman has written a marvelous, entertaining novel with characters whose lives are as unabashedly untidy as America itself.” —Robert Weibezahl, Bookpage

“This big but nimble novel . . . is absolutely compelling in its swift satire, yet readers will also respond to its deep sympathies for ‘well-foibled’ individuals. . . Human nature exposed at its rawest—and most entertaining.” —Brad Hooper, Booklist

“[An] engaging multidimensional tale. . . Holman’s latest imaginative sprawl of a novel explores quintessential American themes—independence, patriotism and politics—to great tragi-comic effect. . . A gifted writer, Sheri Holman has written a deft novel about duty and rebellion and the ways we seek to mend the wounds of history. . . She paints a believable portrait of small-town America, with all its foibles and heartaches, dreams and guilt.” —Anita Shreve, Book Magazine, and bestselling author of All He Ever Wanted